Breaking system applied in capsules for espresso machines, tea and other solubles, made of thermoplastic material, aluminium or its derivatives

ABSTRACT

Breaking system to be applied in the area where the water enters and the infusion exits the capsule. The surface from the bottom of the cup presents interior creases, reducing the thickness of the wall and limited areas of rupture or breaking, that is caused by the normal pressure water pump. The cover produced in the same material, presents in the central surface lowered, creases of rupture or breaking, that can be in the same quantity and equal to the bottom of the cup, or different, with a geometry and appropriate quantity to the granularity of the products introduced into the capsule. The outside of the wall of the cup presents raised ribs, that form rhombs filled with raised dots. By the inside of the wall of the cup is reinforced with three or more platelets amounts.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED U.S. APPLICATIONS

Not applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

NAMES OF PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO AN APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON COMPACT DISC

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The described invention presents, a breaking system applied in capsules for espresso machines, tea and other solubles, made of thermoplastic material, aluminum or its derivatives.

2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98

Are used in the market, many kinds of espresso machines, some for industrial use, like the ones that are used in the hotels, and others for family and domestic use, reason why also exists in the market many different kinds of espresso capsules, adapted and appropriate to the many kinds of espresso machines, reason why presents different geometric shapes.

All the models and shapes of the capsules in the market have in common, the fact of being made or produced, with two elements in different materials.

An ordinary capsule is compound by a base cup and a cover or a buffering cup.

Usually the capsule cup presents a background that is totally closed, or a background pre drilled and subsequently buffered, but in the both cases the background is always drilled by the espresso machines punches where the capsule is applied; almost every capsules known in the market, have the mouth of the cup with peripheral flange outlet, that after the cup is filled with the coffee, serves as the front surface bonding tamponade, that usually is made with silver or aluminium foil, paper filter or micro perforated plastic more or less reinforced.

All the capsules used in the espresso machines, tea or other solubles, after applyed in the machine, are punched on both sides for a mechanized system punctures, some are perforated at the time of closure of the machine when is introduced into the capsule compartment cover, because the cover, when is closed, acts as a lever that drives the punches, and in others machines are punched by a puncture mechanism incorporated in the machine which is operated automatically by the electrical system.

The use of silver or aluminium foil or similar, as tamponade of the capsules, add costs and create problems of collection, separation or selection of the residual products when they are collected for recycling, and that's the reason why most of the times are send to the usual trash.

The problems and difficulties that currently the professionals in the manufacturing sector have in this area of activity, direct them to reduce production costs but also to keep the qualitative aspects or even improving the final product, in order to captivate more clients and final consumers, and therefore feels the pressing need of studies and technical tests, to streamline the production, by eliminating the diversity of the materials used in the capsules production, replacing or even eliminating the silver or aluminium foil from the tamponade of the capsules, not only for reduce the production costs, but also to generalize the use of standardized capsules, and facilitate the collection circuit of capsules after use, eliminating the choise and separation of materials in recycling lines, maximizing this resource.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objectives of the Invention

After analyzed all the technical problems and facing several difficulties with the use of multiple formats capsules, adapted to the different kinds of expresso machines, tea and other solubles that coexisting in the market, the inventor, being knowledgeable of the market and listening carefully the difficulties faced in the hospitality industry and also by the domestic consumers, and adding his personal experience, in this last years has directed his studies and consequent practical experiences to create a new capsule that minimizes the drawbacks mentioned above, in order to streamline and reduce production costs, and considering also simplifying the collection and the recycling of the capsules after use, maximizing these residues, so that the final product can reach at lower costs to the common consumers.

From the reasons who served as bases for the studies and practical tests of various materials tested, this breaking system can be applied to a new capsule, manufactured in only one type of material, which then filled with a soluble product can be handled without the risk of rupture, which is hermetically sealed until being used by the consumer, which after application in any machine breaks down with the normal pressure of the water pump, in the bottom of the capsule cup to permit the entry of the water and on the other side of the cup cover to permit the exit of the dissolved product.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1—Open capsule with the cover in expansion, being the breaking system of the bottom of the cup (7) and from the cover (2) composed by an equal number of creases (1) applied to form the same geometric design;

FIG. 2—Capsule from the FIG. 1 with the cover applied;

FIG. 3—Open capsule, with the cup (7) and cover (2) projected in expansion, presenting the breaking system of the bottom of the cup (7), creases (1) in different quantity from the creases presented in the cover (2), presenting in the cover more creases quantity (1) and with them positioned differently, to cause smaller rupture zones and tearing the lamellae in different directions;

FIG. 4—Capsule from the FIG. 3 with the cover applied;

FIG. 5—External inferior view from the cup (7) of the capsule.

NOMENCLATURES

1—Creases to reduce the wall thickness and to permit the rupture.

2—Cover of the capsule cup

3—Circular peripheral crown cover, from higher diameter and more larger

4—Recessed circular surface in central zone of the cover (2), to which are applied the breaking creases (1)

5—External wall from the capsule cup

6—Amounts or plates, of reinforcement and support, applied by the interior of the wall of the capsule cup

7—Capsule cup

8—Peripheral flap outside the mouth of the capsule cup

9—Peripheral flap of the cover of the capsule, symmetrically with cup flap (8)

10—Peripheral circular crown, exterior of the bottom of the capsule cup (FIG. 5)

11—Central area recessed by the exterior of the bottom of the cup (FIG. 5)

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This new breaking capsules system, has the following characteristics that are above described, only by way of example and without limitation character.

The base of the capsule cup (7 FIG. 1) can be manufactured in thermoplastic or in a derivative material, or aluminium and a derivative material, may present in the exterior bottom (FIG. 5) a flap (10 FIG. 5), which is a slightly elevated peripheral circular crown, serving as abutment and seal of the bottom of the cup, in the area where the water comes out of the machine, being all the central surface (11 FIG. 5) that stays inside that circular crown, slightly recessed, fully closed and smooth; in that central surface (11 FIG. 5) and by the inside of the capsule cup, creases are applied, with a geometric straight or curved shape, which is joined at the center of the circle, and that are made to reduce the thickness of the material in the wall of the bottom cup (7); in the creases, the thickness of the bottom wall of the cup is formed into a thin film, capable of being thorn by the normal pressure of the water pump of the machine at the time that is turned on; the creases (1), are produced in the act of the moldage cup, applying to the mold that forms the inside of the cup, one set of shoulders height and volumetric calculated, to ensure that all the entire surface of the bottom of the capsule, is uniformly filled by the injected material, but with a substantially less thickness in the creases, which are joined at the center or somewhere else, creating at the junction point, the first and principal point of rupture of lamellae formed by the creases; the lamellae are pushed into the interior of the glass capsule by the water pressure.

The bottom of the capsule cup (FIG. 7), doesn't present any pre drilling, and being fully gasketed at the base, keeps the coffee from the time of filling, in a controlled and non-oxidizing atmosphere, not requiring any additional sealing or packing in the exterior bottom of the cup, or the use of any other type of insulating material by the outside of the capsule cup, in the water injection zone.

The use of the itself material of the capsule cup in the entrance water area and without the application of another sealant or insulating material, always with different organic characteristics, makes the process of production more simple and efficient, benefiting significantly the process of choosing and separation the materials, for recycling the product of the capsules after use.

Ensuring that the disruption to the entrance of the water is caused, by the normal pressure of the water from any machine pressure pump, avoids the placement of the lever system on the housing cover of capsules or the application of a internal automated mechanism that triggers the straples drilling, because the drilling of the capsule is no longer required, as usual in the traditional espresso machines, and according to that, that expresso machines being produced without that mechanism, makes the costs necessarily reduced and in consequence is use more attractive to the consumers.

The construction of the capsule cup (7), with multiple raised ribs, that form rhombs filled with raised dots on the outside wall (5) increases the resistance of the cup wall (7) to the pressure of the water in the interior, adding more resistance to deformation or rupture by cracking; the angular raised ribs, used instead the purely smooth cylindrical structure of the walls of the traditional capsules, create a multi vector resistance of the filaments of the injected material, to the pressure caused by the entry of the water, allowing some deformation, but no cracking, resisting until the time of rupture or breaking of the capsule to the exit of the infusion.

The three or more amounts or reinforcing plates (6), that are applied in the interior of the cup wall, in two thirds of the height of the wall, near to the bottom and united with him, by having more then the wall of the cup thickness and being protruding into the interior, ensuring a more uniform distribution of the perpendicular forces of the cup wall of the capsule during the injection process and increased strength in the sidewall of the cup (7) to the outside circular crown of the bottom. This amounts or reinforcing plates (6), constituted by bodies of a higher thickness, are located in the interior of the wall of the cup, and are integral with the bottom of the cup, and therefore increase the strength and integrity of the capsule, when this one is being handled, by being introduced and extracted from the machine, and also has the purpose of avoiding that the capsules cup fits in each other, not only during the manufacturing and storage process, but also during the filling process avoiding automatism errors.

The capsule cover (2) also is equipped with this new breaking system and also is made in the same material of the capsule cup, that is, made of thermoplastic material, aluminium or their derivatives, presenting in the external surface a peripheral circular crown (3) slightly higher that with others circular crowns with a reduce surface, with the same high and confined inside, covers all the entire area of the cup tab (9), and replace the traditional flat back flap and seal the outlet area of the infusion; the surface (4) that stays centered within the circular crowns, is slightly recessed, and in it are applied the creases (1) of breaking, which in the cover (2), being likewise, constituted by straight lines or curves, can be in different quantity and sizes (1 FIGS. 1 and 1 FIG. 3), to allowed rupture zones, that form lamellae in more or less quantity and in sizes and placements appropriated to the volumetric of the products that go fill the capsules; In the presentation of this invent, will be refer only two ways to applied the creases (1) on the cover (2), one that keeps the same design and geometric creases like the bottom of the cup (FIG. 1) and another one, more complex that will include more creases distributed by the central surface of the cover (FIG. 2). In the cover (2) the disruptions are processed by leaving the lamellae to the outside of the capsule, into the space created by the lowering of the central surface (4), limited by the cover flap (9).

When the capsules are placed into the docking area of the espresso machines, are subject to a process of adjustment and sealing crushing of the ring or the circular crown (3), but the accommodation of the port capsules in the machines, allows some descentrality at the time of the adjustment, and that is why, the lap (8) of the cup (7) and the lap (9) of the cover (2) of this new capsule, being symmetric, when they unite for fitting, they both present a more large peripheral circular crown (3) and two or more crowns with less flat face surface, all embossed and capped by sunken alternating grooves, so the seal can always result complemented and complete, when the capsule is crushed and pressed against the wall of the mouth where the infusion gets out of the machine.

This new capsule presents a rough texture by the outside of the wall (5) of the cup (7), being that texture, composed of thin filaments in relief to form geometric designs which are also made in multiple raised points, produced by the molding during the manufacturing. 

1. Breaking system to be applied in capsules for espresso machines, tea and other solubles, made of thermoplastic materials, aluminium or their derivatives, which is characterized by being composed by creases (1) applied in the area where the water enters (11) by the inside of the bottom of the cup (7) and in the area where the infusion exit (4), on the cover of the capsule (2), or just in one of that areas, the area where the water enters (11), by the exterior of the bottom of the cup, which is a central surface circular recessed, smooth and fully closed, which is surrounded by a protruding peripheral circular crown (10) to create a large sealing surface when the bottom of the cup (7) engages to the housing of the machine, by the interior of the bottom of the capsule cup, the central surface (11) presents creases (1) with straight or curved shapes, which join at the center and are produced to reduce the thickness of the material into a thin film, that resist the handling of the capsule safely, and allows that the breaking ou rupture is caused by the water when this one is injected by the normal pressure of the water pump that manning the machine. On the opposite side, in the mouth of the cup (7) or in the area where the infusion exits, it's applied one cover (2), that is made in the same material of the cup, which is applied to the cup and closed with total airtight seal, the cover (2) presents a flap (9) more high and peripheral, with concentric grooves causing various circular crowns with various widths, but all with the same level to sealing by abutment the capsule accommodation in the machine, being the external circular crown (3) with bigger diameter and larger, the central circular surface (4) surrounded by the flat (9) is smooth and totally closed by inferior side of the cover, and by the superior side on the external side of the cover, the surface (4) is slightly recessed, presents the creases (1), with a straight our curved shape that limited the areas of the breaking or rupture to the exit of the infusion, the geometric configuration and the number of creases (1) of the cover breaking, can be in the same quantity and equal as the bottom of the cup, or be different, in more or less quantity, to form geometric figures, that are areas or lamellae of rupture more or less shapely or prepared, and in size and number appropriated to the volumetric characteristic of granularity or the particles of the product that fills the capsule, and by the way, the lateral external wall (5) of the capsule cup (7) presents a rough texture composed by multiple raised ribs, rectilinear and forming rhombs, where inside of them are made multiple points also in raised and produced by the molding during the manufacturing, the wall of the cup (7) by the interior side is reinforced with three or more amounts or plates (6) with more thickness that the wall of the cup, that are amounts of reinforcement of the lateral wall when the capsule is placed and compressed on the inside of the housing in the machine, the reverse area of the flap (9), in the flange have a reversed trapezoidal shoulder for a hermetic sealing of the cover in the flange of the flap (8) of the cup (7), and also presents by the same reverse side, others symmetrical recesses and raises to the flap (9), to reinforcement and resistance in the act of buffering.
 2. Breaking system to be applied in capsules for espresso machines, tea and other solubles, made of thermoplastic materials, aluminium or their derivatives, that according to the claim 1 is characterized by being applied by the inside of the bottom of the cup (7) in central area (11), and by the exterior of the cover (2) on the central area (4) being the cover and the cup, both produced in the same material, where the cover (2) may present breaking creases (1) in same size, quantity and placement or in different quantities and placements of the creases (1) that are applied in the bottom of the cup (7).
 3. Breaking system to be applied in capsules for espresso machines, tea and other solubles, made of thermoplastic materials, aluminium or their derivatives, that according to the claim 1, characterized by being applied in the cup (7) of the capsule and in the cover (2) of the capsule, and the capsule with this breaking system being used in the ordinary pressure espresso machines, being in this case previously placed a centering ring in the cavity of the handle of the espresso machine were usually put the coffee in bulk, and then the capsule is placed inside the ring in the cavity of the handle.
 4. Breaking system to be applied in capsules for espresso machines, tea and other solubles, made of thermoplastic materials, aluminium or their derivatives, that according to the claim 1, characterized by being used in the cup (7) and in the cover (2) of the capsule, or just in the bottom of the cup (7), being then the cup closed for a tamponed in silver or in aluminium foil, filter paper, or in micro perforated plastic commonly used in the market. 